The All Progressives Congress (APC) Bayelsa State chapter has called on all its party members at the ward, local government and state level to shun the proposed nationwide protest slated for August 1.
The state party chairman, Barr. Dennis Otiotio stated this yesterday during a joint press conference on the party’s stand on the proposed protest held at the State Party Secretariat in Yenagoa.
According to Otiotio, there was a need for the party in the state to address issues concerning the proposed nationwide protest and also reply to the press conference by the governor of Bayelsa State.
He stated that APC as a party is against any form of protest in the state, stressing that the party will be mobilising all their members to stage a solidarity rally to support the government and policies of President Bola Tinubu.
“We want to emphatically state that we are against the proposed nationwide protest as a party. This is not because people do not have the right to protest, but because the right to protest ends where other people’s rights begin. We believe that people protesting must protest within the armbeat of the law.
“In this particular protest, we have been briefed by the security agencies that the ultimate objective of the organizers of this protest is to change government democratically. They are poised to change President Tinubu’s government through undemocratic means.
“This is why we are calling all our members and Bayelsans to shun this planned protest because we believe that the protest organisers do not have good intentions and have refused to identify themselves. We don’t know the people organising it, but the security report indicates that these are people who contested the 2023 Presidential election and failed and are now using this medium to truncate our democracy.
“So we have resolved as a party from the ward level, local government level and state level to shun this protest because it is not in the interest of Nigeria, it is not in the interest of Bayelsa State. We are mobilizing all our members tomorrow to stage a solidarity rally to support the government and policies of President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
Reacting to the allegation by the Bayelsa State governor, Douye Diri, that the APC and its leader, Timipre Sylva, are instigating the planned protest in the state, Otiotio said it is unfortunate for the incumbent governor to use the government apparatus to begin to level false allegation against the party and Sylva.
“We are aware that there is bad governance in Bayelsa State due to perennial mismanagement of the huge resources accrued to the state both at the local and state levels. You can see there has been underdevelopment in Bayelsa State since after the November governorship election, and there has been no ongoing project in the state. Nothing is been done in the state.
“However, protest is not the solution to that problem. We do not believe that because there is bad governance in the state, we have to resort to protest against the government. No, we are democrats, progressives, and we believe in the rule of law. We will not use protest to take over the government. We will not use protest to destabilize the Bayelsa State government.
“I think that is one area we agree with the PDP government of Bayelsa State that there should be no protest. I hope the governor is sincere when he said people should not protest because we are sincere and we are ready to sanction any of our members that participate in the proposed nationwide protest. We don’t believe that protest will alleviate the sufferings of the masses”, Otiotio stated.
